Cyprus: Exclusive! Interview with Minus One "We're really looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible in Stockholm"

We spoke to Christopher Ioannides from Minus One some days ago. Read our interview with Chris below to find out what he had to say...

Hello Chris, first of all congratulations that you were chosen internally with Minus One to represent Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

How does it feel to represent your country with “Alter Ego”?

Chris: It is an honour for us, of course. But also a great opportunity to promote the band and be seen by so many people.We feel great and we are really looking forward to it!

What is the message of "Alter Ego"?

Chris: It is basically about being caught in the middle of making important decisions, mainly about love and relationships,but you can interpret it in many ways.

Last year you already participated in the national selection and ended 3rd place with “Shine”. How was your first reaction as you were asked to be set for representing Cyprus in Eurovision?

Chris: We obviously thrilled with it. After trying last year and going through the whole national selection contest it was great that this year we didn't have to deal with that and get straight to business dealing with the actual ESC :)

Do you think it's an advantage that you already took part in a national selection for Eurovision?

Chris: We are a band that has been doing live shows for a long time so taking part in the national selection was a different experience.This was more about television than playing music. We are used to playing live rather than pretend we are playing to playbacks so it was new for us, but it also got us ready and now we know what to expect. It was fun, but in a different way.

"Alter Ego" was written by Thomas G:son, who already wrote Loreen's winning song "Euphoria" 2012. Can you tell us something more about this collaboration?

Chris: The song was written by Thomas and Minus One. It was a great collaboration that ended up being pretty simple also, because when we first met with Thomas to decide where we were going in terms of writing the song, we realized we were on the same page from the start.We totally agreed on the direction to go which made the collaboration fun and easy.

Did he give you any advice for Stockholm?

Chris: He did give us a few pointers here and there but we were mainly focused on the song.

What are your expectations for Stockholm, are you excited?

Chris: Of course we are excited, this is huge! Our expectations we can say are realistic though. Being from a small country usually does not make it easy to collect votes. However we want to have fun and we are ready for anything that comes our way.

How do you prepare yourself for the Eurovision performance?

Chris: It's a little too early for that, we'll probably start prepering in the beginning of April.

The official video for "Alter Ego" was premiered some weeks ago, can you tell us something about the video concept?

Chris: We have a great director and we trusted him 100% to create the concept. We had a meeting and brainstormed about the direction and he proceeded from there. It has a kind of a fairytale feel to it, but we mainly wanted it to focus on the band.

You are already confirmed to be part of the Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam and London Eurovision Party in April. Are you excited to meet a lot of the other contestants there?

Chris: Yes of course! As you said it is a party ;-)) so we definitely look forward to meeting them and enjoy the fun side of Eurovision.

Would you say you are Eurovision fans?

Chris: I wouldn't call us fans, but we have been following it throughout the years. We cant say that participating in the ESC was our life long dream but it definitely is exciting for us. The Eurovision is a great happening and we can't wait!

Which are your favorite Eurovision songs and what is your favorite from your home country?

Chris: I think the five of us would agree that Wig Wam song "In My Dreams" is our favourite. As for Cyprus, well...."Alter Ego"of course ;-))

What are your plans for 2016 besides the Eurovision participation, are you working on a album?

Chris: We are currently in the studio recording. We probably wont go for a full album at the moment but we will definitely have a few new songs out very soon. We are also planning for a European tour in the summer.

If people outside Cyprus never heared about you before – what should they know about you?

Chris: We would just tell them to come to one of our shows and they will figure out a lot about us! :)

What makes “Alter Ego” different and why should Europe vote for your song?

Chris: We believe it stands out simply due to the fact that it is a pop-rock song. If you think about it, it's probably the only song of it's kind this year. If Europe wants to vote for it that would be great, it would be nice to see a small country win for once.

Do you have a message for “Join Us on Eurovision” readers and your fans?

Chris: We're really looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible in Stockholm or hope to see you at one of our shows soon. Much love to all !!!

Support Minus One and their music. Download their Eurovision entry "Alter Ego" on iTunes or listen to it on Spotify: